A Play of Steel and Powder

[Mina]

Wedding Woes 251 AL
​

Word spreads of Princess Rhaenys' flight from her monstrous cousin's bed and in to the arms of Lord Logan Lannister. Queen now, the dragon would appear to have two heads at odds with one another...

 

[Mina]

Ghosts in the Mountains 252 AL​

​

Sibela Waters came to with the sound of her own heart pounding in her ears and the labored breathing of her dragon. The sheltered canyon was dark, but something huge and horned loomed up before her. As clouds scuffed across the sky the moon shone down, reflecting off the wind polished skeleton of a great dragon and the ground around her littered with scales the color of salt-rimed rock.

 

[Mina]

A Princess by the Sea 253 AL
​

Having flown cautiously Jonquil bore Princess Rhaenys to the Iron Islands even as the country burned, her cousin fled, and chaos spawned from every ripple caused by her first, far less cold and salty flight.​

 

[Mina]

The Hollow Crown
​

Siege of King's Landing

Within the walls of the city the Lannister host suffered. The burned out neighborhoods, dwindling supplies, and the incessant bombardment they now faced from their former positions outside the walls as well as the river came together to make for an ugly mood on the streets and despite the best efforts of archers to bring down whatever game birds wandered over the ruined city. Content to let the siege take its natural course the Crown's forces focused their efforts on making the men within King's Landing suffer, thrusting harder at the Water gate one day, only to redouble their efforts at the northwest quarter the next.

The populace grumbled, having gone from the relative comfort of the past year's tense but relatively manageable conditions to one of starvation rations, disease, and occupation. There were several clashes between soldiers and smallfolk as food stores ran low and daily stews took on rattier and rattier flavor. Facing the same general issues with the arrangement of the walls that Maely's had, but without the benefit of a hale and hearty citizenry or mostly intact walls Daven resorted to more cunning plans. Ironmongers, taking whatever scrap or broken armor they couldn't repair and fill with men, worked to build their commander little chimneys around the city where wood, charcoal, oils and rendered fats could be burned to fill the air with a dark pall and block out the view of the unnatural birds that flew too high for bowmen and swift for arquebuses along with the ever present threat of dragons. How some tenders of these little flames found enough fat was better left unsaid.

With the dragons, or more properly their riders, held off by the ever-present smoke spirits rose a little despite the noxious atmosphere. Work continued on the walls, shoring up defenses as the enemies without kept chipping away at them, and a few new pieces found their way to parapets. Rough and improvised, these stubby little launchers did the best they could with the timbers that could be dragged from wrecked homes or in some case buildings demolished expressly for the purpose. They began their work, firing shells and firkins filled with powder, shrapnel, and wildfire out at the besiegers and their fleet causing heavy casualties among gunners and rocketeers on the front lines as well as taking a few galleys to the bottom of the Blackwater before the Crown's forces fell back. Despite using cast iron bowls there were several incidents where arms broke, or shots were mistimed and green flame blazed upon the ramparts, consuming machine and crew in fiery doom, limiting the overall use of these ad hoc weapons and complaints from the siege engineers about inadequate materiel.

The assault that followed this fire and counter-fire was precipitated by events within the walls. Following a feast, of sorts, Lord Footly disappeared along with several of his retainers leaving his brother and his other commanders questioning the Lannisters as to his whereabouts. Stories of his illness did little to dissuade them, and at the break of dawn the Reachmen assaulted the guard on the Dragonpit joining with the weak and haggard loyalist captives. As gunfire crackled in the murky morning and the host began to turn upon itself the signal went up in the Tully encampment and the final fury of shot and rocket dropped on the gates, blasting apart the Lannister defenses and opening the way for the mighty force.

Wildfire rained on both forces causing panic and horrific death, but with too few men and too much wall the King of the Rock's forces couldn't stop up every breach and soon the Vale's heavy horse ran roughshod across the city. The dance repeated itself, with cannon dragged and repositioned on the rises of the Great Sept and the Pit, but the fight had gone out of most of the defenders. The remaining Footlys happily bent the knee as their position alongside the freed captives was secured and Ser Osgrey surrendered his sword to Ser Robb Tully. At the Red Keep the fire was the hottest, but Riverlands rangers secured the Alchemist's Guildhall, swelling the attackers stocks of wildfire and with the new determination they broke through and drove Lannister and Baratheon back through the recesses of the fort. In the Great Hall, King Edric's roars echoed off the walls and the empty skulls of dragons as he held the door against knights of the Order, driving their commander back with his blade broken off in the man's leg until falling stricken beneath the press of armored men.

It was a resounding victory, but not without cost. In the confusion of the attack several stocks of powder were blown up behind the Crown's lines causing damage to guns and the deaths of hundreds, and there was more. Conspicuously absent from the assault were King Maelys and Ser Owen, the former having called the latter to his tent to speak as he donned his armor. Now, the King's tent was a ruin of broken poles and rent canvas with Dalton and Acerbus stalking the open ground around it warning off all comers with roars and jets of flame. None save Sibela could approach, and there she found a scene of carnage. King Maelys lay in a pool of his own blood, clinging weakly to life with Ser Owen cradling his nephew's head. Around them lay ten of Lord Umber's thanes, and the lord himself struck through with Targaryen steel and his legs torn off by a dragon. The other men bore similarly grievous wounds, but as the dragonseed drew nearer she could see that Ser Owen had fared little better. His eyes sightless, his limbs motionless, no breath passed his lips, nor ever would again.

Victory.

King's Landing falls (again).
Crown's forces take the city.

Spoiler: Numbers

Tully: 4500 horse, 6000 foot, 560 Knights of the Order, 190 rangers
Stark: 3750 horse, 7500 foot
Arryn: 8500 horse, 12600 foot, 5500 reserves

Ser Own killed fighting off Umber assassins, King Maelys wounded (permanent effect of @Wade Garrett's choice), leader of the Order killed.
Umber forces flee North. 200 Thanes, 400 Light Cavalry, 800 infantry
The Two King's forces fracture, many killed, many more captured. King Edric and Ser Daven taken in chains. Footlys nearly wiped out between fighting both sides, Rowans capitulate. Mercenary companies clear a blocked gate and abscond, sending letters requesting the King's peace now that their service has expired.

Spoiler: Numbers

Lannister: 1200 horse, 3000 foot
Baratheon: 1800 horse, 2200 foot, 900 reserves
Footly: 900 horse, 900 foot
Crones: 800 mercenaries
Wildfish 1500 mercenaries

The Stepstones

Purple sails were unexpected. The Storm King's New Model fleet sailed for Tarth while the small remnants of the Dornish navy patrolled their northern waters, both on the lookout for vessels of the Royal Navy. Instead a haze grew on the horizon, like gathering dusk as a mighty armada bore down the Narrow Sea. The Sealord's standard at the fore, the Braavosi war-fleet swept the seas clear, sinking both forces quite handily and capturing several prizes from both the Baratheons and the Martells before landing troops on Bloodstone. Sending word east to the Volantene islands to remind them of their non-aggression pact, the Braavosi used cunning to slip men in to the harbor of their target and swiftly took the small fortress with limited loss of life on either side. From there the fleet's attention turned west, and galleys pulled hard for Plankytown where shot rained down, splintering docks and buildings as tradition was fulfilled and the port raided.

Braavosi forces control the waters around Bloodstone and several of the smaller islands nearby as well as the Straits of Tarth.
5 Baratheon galleys, 2 Dornish carracks captured.
~400 ships of galley-weight, ~8000 foot, 600 horse, Lost Legion (1000 heavy infantry, 400 heavy cavalry), Second Sons (900 light infantry) 1100 sellswords and bravos

The Westerlands

Following the attack on their lord's brother by the Greyjoys of Laketown, the Iron Fleet and Redwynes pressed their advantage on Lannisport, sinking many longships and burning galleys at anchor while cannon stones and rocket fire rained down on the port. In the north, the approaching horde of reavers and the precarious position of their houses led the Westerlings, Reynes, and Marbrands to bend the knee, protesting that defense of Rhaenys claim had been their only intent. This did nothing to prevent the Ironborn from stripping Castamere of everything of value and hauling off gold, jewels and a wealth of booty from both there and their other captured positions.

Ironborn get theirs. Lannisport burns, Reynes, Marbrands, and Westerlings surrender. Greyjoy fleet as well as Lannister are sunk in the harbor.
5200 Greyjoy reavers survive, no longships.

The Reach

The Tarlys marched for Newgarden, taking several halls and holdfasts around it and capturing Lord Tyrell's banners. As they laid in for a siege, news reached them that Horn Hill burned, a force of Hightower men having pushed in behind their lines and set fire to the remaining buildings. As they were working to reduce the significant defenses of the putative Lord Paramount's seat it was all but impossible to respond, and scouts reported that naught was left but cracked stone and collapsed towers.

Horn Hill attacked. Again. Newgarden besieged, morale wavers but Tyrells are as brave and stubborn as they are thick and hold out behind the walls.

The Golden Tooth

The siege continued, dragging on as the forces of the Riverlands and North fell in to the task, raising what amounted to a respectable fortified town outside of the range of the Lannister guns. Food came in from the rest of the Riverlands, houses and barracks, actual roads across the camp and sturdy storehouses and saunas to prepare for the always coming winter.

Beneath the ground they were busy as well, digging tunnels under the hills to avoid the shot and withering fire the Lannisters could undoubtedly drop upon this heads. Shovels scraped and timbers groaned as they were set to support several mines to either breach the walls themselves or undermine towers.

However, the Lannisters were canny. Digging their own tunnels, the far more experienced miners and sappers of the Rock met their counterparts below the earth, pushing them back before blowing the mines and burying the rest alive. The fields between the two forces shivered as furrows and pits collapsed, making the terrain a weird, rippling surface and blasting fire and earth back out the openings in the siege camp.

Nighttime raids followed, grenades and flaming brands tossed over the earthworks and burning parts of the outlying camp, but these were driven back by vigorous gunfire. Meanwhile in the hills the Rangers and the Company of the Cat found the ways blocked by vicious ambush and rockslide, Lannister mines and arquebuses racing to beat them to whatever narrow pass they might find and exploit.

And so the fight dragged on, made all the more interminable by the horrific music of the North.

Riverlands: 9500 foot, 5k horse, 4500 reserves, 350 Rangers, 2600 Company of the Cat
North: 9800 foot, 5k horse
Lannisters: 5k horse, 14k foot

 

[Wade Garrett]

@EmperorCasey

With light hearts and high spirits, ships and men departed from the First Daughter to search the ruins of Lost Zamettar and plumb the interior of Sothyros, seeking more wyverns for their forces and evidence of civilizations per dating the Doom.

Captain Daeron Mallyrio was already envisioning himself feted by the Old Blood (perhaps even raised to Triarch) as his forces sailed into the river mouth. And why not? He was following in the footsteps of the brave men who had first brought wyverns to Volantis. He and his troops were well equipped with the latest in Essosi firearms. What could possibly threaten them?

A single ship returned to the river mouth, to be discovered by sailors from Gosgossos.

Aboard was one passenger, Daeron himself. The once proud captain had been crucified to his vessels helm, a message cut into the flesh of his back in what was determined to be a variant of the Summer Islands trade tongue.

From:
Shamir-I-Schaerzade, Favored Son of the Goddess Nekari, The Star Which Shall Never Fall, Herdbreaker, Master of Ten Thousand, The Unrivaled, Satrap Above All Satraps of Po

Outlanders. You shall pledge fealty to me, surrender your thunderbeasts to my herd, and give your wives and daughters up for my pleasure. Only then I shall forgive your insolence in trespassing on my lands.


The Satrap Above All


A warrior of Po


A Satrap's thunderbeast, trained and equipped for battle

 

[Mina]

The Wages of Winter 255 AL
​

With armies having marched and encamped in the Westerlands, Riverlands and Crownlands for most of the war, those regions faced a difficult prospect as the first snows fell. The division of the former was a surprising boon, the untouched farmlands of the southern holdings easily supplementing the thinned stocks of their northern compatriots and the now rudderless seats of Fair Isle, Feastfires and Kayce given over to the Ironborn to contend with. In addition to their other challenges many of the lords of the realm had to contend with new entries to their lands as noble houses were forced out on the eve of the season's change and once reliable sources of income and food were redistributed. The Stormlands especially faced a dangerous shift, with the maritime holdings of Tarth and Greenstone no longer paying tax in fish and coin to Storm's End and the rich Selmy lands stocking the granaries of Lord Tarly.

In the North the first cases of Winter fever are reported, spreading in the streets of White Harbor and causing the old and infirm to fail while the young and weak suffer.​

 

[Mina]

Those Old Winter Blues 256 AL
​

The work of the harbormasters of Braavos, the greenseers in White Harbor and the preventative measure of the maesters and Wisdoms in King's Landing were at once ineffective and immensely beneficial. All across the Kingdoms and the northern reaches of Essos small pockets of the disease flared up, striking high and low alike with cramping, nausea, chills and the aforementioned fever. While unable to prevent the spread of the malaise, the extra attention and quick responses meant that few who caught the plague actually died, and the hale and hearty seemed able to fight it off quite easily. Only the young, the elderly, and the physically frail were struck down, and in nowhere near the numbers of some years.

Meanwhile, several warehouses storing naval supplies within Braavos burned to the ground, the source of the ignition unclear as nothing particularly flammable was stored within and the city was spared the horror of a powder explosion. Much later storehouses in Gosgossos caught fire killing several dockhands handling cargo from a supply ship.

The Maesters reported there was still no sign of spring.

 

[Wade Garrett]

The Doom That Came To Sothyros


The fate of the previous expedition to pass Zamettar was received...poorly by the Old Blood, with the mutilated captain's family calling for vengeance, for the slaughter and enslavement of whatever grunting savages had dared commit such indignities upon the heirs of Valyria.

And so it was that a force of seven hundred men made their way down the river, legion soldiers from Lys and Volantis and reavers of Laketown, with seven wyverns in accompaniment, six from Lys and the first daughter and one ridden by Flamewrought Solkun of Myrwater, one of the Canton's warrior pyromancers sent to tend the expeditions supply of wildfire.

The punitive force sailed down the river from Zamettar, and before long they began to encounter civilization, small fishing villages along the banks of the dark river.

Attempts at negotiations were hampered by the actions of the Laketown reavers, who immediately began to claim plunder and slaves (as specified in their contract) from the populace.

Not that Captain Jahoran Alynsorn Khossar tried very hard to restrain them. After all, this was a mission of vengeance, best that the savages taste the fruits of defying the First Daughter.

Some concern set in when the wyvern riders located a city, a true city, of worked stone, sitting alongside the great river, with organized companies of well armed men seen marching along its streets.

City of Lehayun

Warrior of the Lehayun Guard

At the urging of the Lyssene contingent, a request for negotiation was sent to the native settlement...a negotiation which was cut short by Khossar (urged on by the Flamewrought and the Laketown contingent) opened fire on the envoys with gun and cannon and ordered the wyverns to begin firebombing the city.

This was the price for the insult they had offered to Valyria Reborn.

The city's defenders made a brave effort, racing forward with cries of "Shamir! Shamir!" only to be torn apart by cannon and rocket or to meet their end on the blades of legionaires and reavers.

And so Khossar's men sated themselves on plunder and pillage, seizing such treasure and comely wenches as survived the wildfire and the fighting, secure in the knowledge the primitives had learned their lesson, the expeditions leaders making sport of the extravagantly dressed bearded man who ruled the city as they discussed how to best render his lands a vassal of fair Volantis.

"And the passing of his hosts shall be as the thunder of the storm..."

The trees swayed in their passing, the thunderbeasts driven through the night in answer to the call that had gone out. "Lehayun is in peril! Succour us, O Unrivaled! Defend your children, Breaker of Herds!"

Scores of the thunderbeasts, armor strapped to their bodies, javelin throwers and archers firing from wooden turrets on their back. And all this but a portion of the Ten Thousand, the iron fist of the Goddess Nekari's Favored Son.

Attempts to terrify the beasts with rocketry failed, men and women trained from birth to guide the sacred beasts lashing them on with hooked goads. The great gates of Lehayun that had broken so easily before Essosi cannon now admitted Shamir's vengeance, men crushed to a pulp as they sought to retreat to their ships...ships which provided no safety, as the beasts plunged after them, warriors leaping from their backs onto the decks as the beasts themselves laid about with great maces lashed to their tails.

Such wildfire as was left and what cannon could be quickly loaded and fired reaped a toll on the Herd, but could not halt the charge.

The wyvern riders of Volantis and Lyss dove to aid their fellows, but with their wildfire grenades exhausted only close combat was left as an option...

An option which resulted in two Volantine riders pinioned by arrows and a Lysenni wyvern knocked from the sky by a tail mace and trampled to death.

Only the Laketown longships, well practiced in seizing everything valuable and getting away before reinforcements arrived, managed to fly to safety.

Thus was Lehayun avenged.

-Volantis, Lys and Laketown invade Po with 300 Volantines, 200 Lysenni, 200 Ironborn, 20 Volantine ships, 20 Lysene ships, 5 Longships, 3 wyverns from Lyss and Volantis and 1 Myrwater wyvern.

-City of Lehayun sacked. Thirty Thunderbeasts slain. 1 Volantine rider and 3 wyverns, 2 Lyssene wyverns, 1 Myrwater wyvern, 3 Longships and 70 Ironborn return to Gosgossos. Laketown ships managed to abscond with loot and saltwives, so good for them.

 

[Mina]

A Breath of Fresh Air 257 AL
​

Signs of spring are in the air and the season begins to change. In Essos the market for foodstuffs seems poised to explode in price with wild speculation rapidly driving up costs until word of the new season crashes the market almost overnight. What winter stocks remain can be easily had for all comers as the Garden already starts to blossom with early spring crops and larders are refilled across both continents.

 

[Ceslas]

The War In Zhon

A Herd of Unarmored Thunderbeasts
​

When Jhala spurned the demands of the Breaker of Herds, Zhon was Po's natural prey. Reportedly Chaso did not even know she ruled Zhon or that it was close to Po when she refused but even when she learned otherwise she refused to back down. Unfortunately fortune was not with her. The rockets promised by the Westrosi and Braavosi were slow to arrive, though some cannon were offered to Jhala by the Bastion and Zhon. (They had saved a few pieces from the remains of the Stepstones pirates. Combined there were about 16 guns with just enough powder and shot for four shots each.) Walano winced at this but could not stop their being sent east.

In the meantime, the invasion began. Kauiita-I-Shamir led his massive Herd into southern Zhon, slowly bringing southern Zhon under his control through diplomacy as he marched towards Joncar's seat, where it said he would welcomed him with song and dancing girls if the Jhalan troops were not forcing his hand. In the meantime, Vayadi-I-Shamir, the older brother of Kauiita lead a small mobile force, without Thunderbeasts, north to strike strike towards Joncar's seat from the rear. As the raids began against Kauiita's forces, bleeding his men and Thunderbeasts in scorpion ambushes and nightime raids, Vayadi burned his way through the north, pillaging and plundering. Despite Chaso's orders, Joncar convinced Aethan to join him in an attack on and his 2,000 footmen and 500 longstriders, raiding and ambushing them in the jungles of northern Zhon with the Wyvernguard and Jhalan warriors as well as his own Red Archers and Militia. Vayadi was able to inflict losses on the duo as his men ground south but the casualties proved prohibitive and he was forced to withdraw. Joncar Tully, the eternal swashbuckler, had shown his mettle and but sensing Aethan's jealously of how Joncar's men viewed him, Joncar decided to defend his seat while and Aethan prepared to engage Kauiita using what weapons he had to repel at a prepared postion a day's ride from Joncar's seat, bringing all his cannons, rockets, and scorpions to bear.

Phase I
Summer Islands Victory
1,500 Po Footmen Slain (900 North, 600 South)
100 Longstriders Slain (North)
5 Thunderbeasts Slain (South)
1,200 Red Archers Slain (400 North, 800 South)
1,000 Militia Slain (North)
30 Wyvernguard Slain (North)

Kauiita was a cautious figure and he was not eager to engage the enemy in a prepared position. He instead had his herd force its way though a stretch of jungle east of the Jhalans, forcing Aethan to attack him away from his prepared position. However he underestimated Aethan's resolve and he recklessly brought his rockets forward to rain fire on the Thunderbeasts while his warriors struck the enemy at night. The fires of the platforms on the Thunderbeasts illuminated the attack and Kauiita was forced to withdraw and seek to hold southern Zhon while awaiting reinforcements, not wanting to risk his herd without Longstrider support, which came when his brother brought his remaining forces south.

Phase 2
Summer Islands Victory
2,000 Po Footman Slain
15 Thunderbeasts Slain
1,600 Red Archers Slain
400 Warriors Slain
100 Reavers Slain

It was at this time that Aethan's arrogance got the better of him. Instead of continuing to press Kauiita, as Joncar advised, Aethan vowed to obey Chaso's orders and invade Po and spark an uprising to seize the land. It was a disaster. The population refused to rise up and Shamir rallied an army to oppose Aethan as Kauiita moved to cut off his retreat. After his men panicked Aethan was forced to retreat though not before trying to raid Kauiita again. This time the jungle was not think enough to limit the mobility of Kauiita's Thunderbeasts and despite the fire from the rockets and the cannon they were able to stampede into the Summer Islanders and many of the best archers were slain as Aethan was forced to retreat to Joncar's seat.

Phase 3
Po Victory
20 Thunderbeasts Slain
100 Longstriders Slain
1,500 Po Footmen Slain
3,500 Red Archers Slain
200 Wyvernguard Slain
30 Dragonguard Slain
200 Reavers Slain

Now with the Imperial forces weakened, Shamir plans to push to Joncar's seat and seize Zhon's shipyards for his own.